fasting to lose weight

What?!?!?! We’ve been told by weight loss experts for eons that breakfast is the most important meal of the day – to literally, break the fast from the last meal the night before. “Breakfast like a king” they say, meaning eat your biggest meal first thing in the morning so that the body has time to absorb all the nutrietns and your daily activity will remove the excess calories. Well that has bene the crux of the theory. The reality is raising the question: does it work?

According to an Australian specialist surgeon, Dr Andrew Renaut, nothing we have traditionally considered appropriate for weight loss is working. Not even surgery in some cases (it’s easy to cheat by melting your ice cream or chocolate – you’re still consuming those mega-calories that have no nutritional value and will not help you lose weight).

Renaut argues that we need to appproach weight loss in a new way. He proposes NOT eating breakfast. Instead, use that time to up your activity level. You know, movement. Then consume your nutrient-dense calories in a “window” of time from 1pm to 7pm.

The basis of Renaut’s theory is that by eating regularly throughout the day as we do now, we never give the chance for our insulin levels to self-correct meaning they are always raised. That process in itself leads to insulin-intolerance and we actually gain weight. He argues it is necessary to enable the insulin level to get to zero and that is achieved by fasting. Dr Renaut advocates not eating from 7pm to 1pm the next day – a fast of around 18 hours. During this period you can have coffee, green tea and water. By halting insulin production we give our body the chance to use up the fatty acids.

“When it comes to food, there are three main factors: How much do we eat, what type of food we eat, and the amount that we eat. Of those three, the most important is when we eat it.”

Given that we agree with his synopsis, and who wouldn’t, then focusing on frequency and duration of intake is sound. There has been a resurgence of focus on fasting in recent years with the most popular method being the 5:2 diet popularised by Dr Michael Mosely. Most research supports that method as an efective way to live and reduce weight over time.

Under Renaut’s method of eating, you continue to have your required daily intake of 2000 calories for women or 2500 calories for men but you focus on eating them between the 1pm-7pm window, just restricting the carbs. (We usually eat way too many carbs that lead to weight gain). Focus on lots of fresh foods – vegetables, lean meat, fish, dairy, cheese. Some fruit is fine but remember they are full of sugar so eat them in moderation. Avoid bread, pasta, rice etc.

Make better food choices to lose weight

So the Renaut method is simply eating healthy fresh food from 1pm-7pm and fasting outside that period, by drinking water and coffee/green tea.

Note: it won’t help you to drink sweet creamy coffee frequently! So those 10 caps a day are not going to cut it. Same for those low-cal soft drinks or sodas – they still raise your insulin which is a no-no during fasting and defeats the purpose of the fast ie reduce insulin overload.

Action Plan for Weight Loss

keep a time log for a few days and monitor what you eat when and how much – you might be surprised!
start by introducing the fasting period between 7pm and 1pm the next day, making no other changes until you get into the swing of it
next, remove as many carbs as you can from your intake
give the method at least a month to see the impact on your weight loss progress. If it is working for you, keep going

(As with any changes, check in with your doctor and discuss the planned changes to make sure they will not impact any medical issues you may have).

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A couple of years ago, Dr Michael Mosely came upon an eating plan that he found seemed to work.

So impressed was he that he turned it into a flourishing business. Called the 5:2 diet, it works on the principle of intermittent fasting.

It is pretty simple really. Eat 5 days a week normally but healthily and have way less calories on two days of the week.

‘The theory is that the semi-fast gives your system time to recover and heal to ensure normal internal functioning, and your body draws its energy from fat stores thereby burning fat and promoting weight loss over time.

According to Mosely, this is not a short term quick fix diet but an ongoing eating plan. Once at goal weight, the fasting occurs on only one day a week, not two, to maintain the new level of health and fitness.

I recall the BBC series episode where Mosely investigated a number of different eating regimens based on fasting. It was in pursuit of finding the most healthy eating plan for good health and longevity.

One was a permanent caloric restriction which was primarily vegetarian. My partner has been on a similar eating plan for over a year to control cholesterol by diet rather than statins. Too restrictive and limited for me.

Another plan was periodic complete fasting. Three consecutive days on 25 calories. I could not maintain that! The health benefits gained by Mosely on this model were also short-lived.

Next Mosely looked at Alternate Day Fasting – eat restricted calories one day then eat whatever you like the next – literally.

Then it was the intermittent fasting model. Mosely favored this over the Alternate model primarily because of the reported benefits of healthy brain aging.

The intermittent fasting plan seems a sound model and I was impressed when I saw the episode. Certainly Mosely’s results, apart from his weight, but certainly an improved set of blood results such as cholesterol readings.

“No pills, no injections and no hidden cost.” is how Mosely describes fasting.

Fasting or severe caloric restriction is, in my view, extreme and not recommended.

Intermittent fasting seems viable to me. Weight loss is certainly a benefit though what appeals more is the health benefits to inner functioning systems like cholesterol, glucose etc.

So how does the 5+2 work?

There is a plethora of material now available about the model. The key element is to eat what you like (healthy food only of course) for 5 days and restrict your intake for two days (not consecutive days). If you want to explore it further, head over to Mosely’s site and you can dig deeper.

Personally, I’m prepared to adopt it as a way of life. I will give it three months and see the results. If it’s favorable in terms of weight loss, and my medical test results are positive then I will continue. Based on a recent experiment with pure fasting for a day I believe I could manage the two day less-intake mode without issue.

I’ll be choosing Monday and Thursday as my lower-intake days. I need to ensure I schedule low-energy activities for those days at first until I get used to it.

The trick for me is eating healthy on the normal days and being ok with the odd treat (not regular or daily!!). Switching the automatic pilot of reaching for chocolate into grabbing something healthier is key. That is going to be a permanent diet change anyway.

That’s the appeal to me about this diet. It is based on healthy eating, mostly fresh real foods where possible with the occasional extra treat. My personal view is that eating food that’s least processed or unprocessed is the way to go. I have learned that it’s not how much I eat but what I eat that stacks on my weight. My past diet consisted of high calorie, low nutrition ‘food’. So from that point of view it is no different to the plan I have decided to adopt. It’s about fueling my body and not my emotions!

It’s not unusual for me to eat less than the recommended calories (when I avoid eating rubbish – that high calorie, nutrient-poor stuff) so the lower calorie days will not be a strain for me. My challenge is to continue to make the best food choices every day and avoid falling back into old patterns under pressure.

Intermittent fasting is not a panacea and may not work for everyone. My initial one day trial was positive so I’m prepared to give it a red-hot go for three months. I may see benefits earlier but that is when I’ve arranged to be back at the doc’s for the tests.

Wish me luck!

Warning: only undertake a fasting model when in good health, not pregnant, not underweight and with medical supervision. Get a starting blood test result as a baseline to measure the health impact.

PS – watch the episode if only for the inspirational marathon story starter!

Weight Loss: Don’t Eat Breakfast – Lose Weight

Action Plan for Weight Loss

5 and 2 Diet: Will It Work?

So how does the 5+2 work?